The Legend of Spyro: Oblivions Wrath
by ArktonDartorix
Summary: When a strange portal opens and four dragons are asked to investigate they find themselves in the middle of a war that has been going on for centuries. Rated for violence/blood and maybe a little SpyroxCynder and FlamexEmber if i feel like it
1. A strange new ally

**This is my first fic so go a little easy on the criticism if it sucks. No flames plz**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Spyro and Co. I only own my OC.**

A strange new ally

Spyro glanced up at the blood red sky, streaked with jagged orange and red lines above him and sighed, glancing over at his friends._ "I bet if Ignitus had known it was this bad, he wouldn't have made us go." _The land scape in front of them was so.... hellish, there was lava instead of water, rocks instead of grass, strange unknown plants, and a crap load of enemies. He paused to let Cynder, Flame, and Ember catch up to him. None of them were doing very well, Flame had several oozing cuts on his chest, Ember had fractured her front left wrist, Cynder was doing about as well as Flame, and she also had several long bloody claw marks on her face. Several strange creatures spotted them and ran over. They had light tan skin on their top half and brown fur on the bottom half. They had long pointy ears, five sharp claws, and three toes.

They stopped about three feet away and started launching fireballs out of their hands. The four dragons dodge them with ease, sending their own fireballs at them. The creatures simply absorbed it and continued to fire back. After about ten seconds, they stop, close in and start slashing at the dragons. Spyro ducks under an incoming claw and bites down on its waist, cracking the bone. While it shrieked in pain he killed it with a slash to the neck. Letting the corpse drop, he charges at another one attempting to sneak up on Cynder. It sensed him coming and shoots him in the face with a fireball, sending him back into a rock. Cynder and Flame are protecting Ember when Spyro gets blasted, causing Ember and Cynder to scream in horror as he slumps to the ground unconscious. Ignoring Cynder and Flame's cries, Ember flies over to Spyro and attempts to revive him. She feels something hit the back of her neck and suddenly a warm liquid starts flowing down her back and onto the ground. Collapsing from the sudden blood loss she can only watch in horror as the creature starts it's death blow, and closing her eyes she waits for the inevitable. Suddenly a thump is heard and the creature falls over dead, a black and red arrow through its neck. Cynder and Flame look around cautiously as Cynder takes a step toward the others and nearly gets hit by another arrow. A voice that sounds a little like the person is growling at the same time calls out "Move and die."

Out of the shadows steps a human/cat looking thing that is wearing full fur armor that looked like it had ether been hastily made or had seen to much combat. He is holding a loaded bow with a color mixture of black and a crimson red and is walking very cautiously toward the two conscious dragons. The figure asks in a surprisingly calm tone "Please tell me why four dragons would be wander in around in Oblivion?" The two turn to each other and gulp as the figure continues on, "I will also be pleased to tell you that my hand might just "accidentally" slip if I don't get an answer. Get my drift?"

Flame turns pale and hides behind Cynder, who just rolls her eyes and replies back, "This weird upside-down U shaped portal opened up in the middle of our homeland and creatures started pouring out of it. The elders sent us four in to try to close it, but we haven't had any luck." The creature to Cynder and Flame's surprise, begins to laugh and lowers his bow. "Uhh... what's so funny?"

"I find it funny that I would find four _helpless little dragons _wandering around in hell, not knowing what their doing. I also find it funny that four dragons had trouble with a few scamps."

"Scamps?"

"That brown and tan creature."

Flame speaks up, startling Cynder. "Why the hell are they called scamps?"

"No freakin idea but if you can't handle even a few scamps then all of you are completely screwed."

"Are you saying that they're the weakest creature here?"

"Yup."

Flame and Cynder mumble at the same time, "Shit, we're screwed" They're quiet for a few more seconds before Cynder breaks the silence, and pointing at Spyro and Ember she asks,"Hey, creepy dude? Could you uhh.... heal them?"

"Who?"

"The two others."

"Can't even heal themselves? Interesting......" He walks over to them and kneels down. His back is turned, but a white glow is coming from his hand onto Spyro and Ember, making them glow. Finally he steps back as the two begin to stir. Ember looks up at the creature for a few seconds then screams causing Spyro to jump up and growl, "Get the hell away from her!!" He then collapses into Ember's claws from sudden fatigue. The figure sighs and mutters "Typical......".

Spyro asks "What are you then? Why should I trust you? You don't look like any animal I've ever seen."

"That is because I am not an animal" He replied, "I am one of the proud people of the province of Elsweyr"

Spyro, sounding confused replies "That still doesn't tell me who or what you are..."

"I am a Khajiit"

"A Khajiit? What the hell is that?"

He smacks his head and asks "Man, where the heck do you live? Are you new or something? I mean how else would you not know about Khajiits?" Spyro glances over at the others before speaking up.

"We live in the dragon realms of the Artistian home world."

"Artistian? Ever heard of Cyrodiil?"

"Never."

"Ok then.... I'll tell you what is going on. Your home world was invaded by a species called dadera. They're ruled by sixteen "princes" of Oblivion. I can't remember them all, but the deadliest is Marunes Dadon. He is the Datric prince of natural disasters. He tried to take over once and was supposedly killed, but was found to be still alive, more dangerous than ever. They create realms for their dadera called Oblivion. You stand now in one of the many plains of Oblivion."

Flame, looking worried asks "So..... there could be more than one gate open in our world at a time?"

"Unfortunately for you, yes that is possible."

Spyro, obviously thinking hard on the subject finally says "Is there ANY way to close the gate? I don't care how crazy or dangerous it is, if there is a way tell me."

"There is one and ONLY one way to close a Oblivion gate, to remove the sigil stone at the top of the largest tower. Then we will be teleported out as the gate implodes on itself."

The four turn to leave and Spyro says "Thanks for the advice............ whats your name?"

"I have no name so you can just call me....... oh I'll go with Dart, and if you plan to close the gate you will probably need my help to do so."

Cynder replies, a grin on her face "Then hurry up and lets go!"

**So how did I do? R and R plz**


	2. Crossing the Plains

Crossing the Plains

Spyro looked up at the group of three or so towers in the distance and wondered why they hadn't thought of checking them for information first.

"_Oh right, Flame had to start boasting out load and make sure to alert every single one of them" _he though bitterly. He opened his mouth to ask Dart how long it would take them to reach the towers but before he even got two words out Darts hand is over his muzzle, silencing him.

"Quiet... there are some scouts around" he hissed before letting go and returning to the head of the group. Checking the area carefully he motioned for them to wait and creeps forward towards some fallen rocks ahead, taking out his bow while doing so. Drawing and notching an arrow he aims for several seconds before letting it loose. A roar followed by a startled cry soon confirmed that he had hit the intended target and smiling he started back towards them. As soon as he stepped out of cover however several demonic sounding shouts were heard from across a large pool of lava. The four dragons quickly peeked out to see what was going on but quickly vanished behind another rock before being seen by the large horde of daedra or demora ,as Dart had called them earlier, that had gathered. They were all looking at their fallen comrade and mumbling to each other in a strange language. Then one of them steps out of the crowd and calls across the lava to them. "That was a good shot mortal.... but now that we know where you are you cannot hide from us."

Dart looked at the others and said "Don't move, don't make a sound.... be invisible and I will handle them." Then stepping out from the cover of the rock he calls back "Thank you for the complement o _"immortal demons" _but I really have no time for a game of cat and mouse now."

"And why would that be?"

"Well if I told you then that would spoil all the fun now wouldn't it?"

The demora, clearly getting annoyed angrily replies "I have had enough of you nonsense foolish mortal, and the name of your destination does not matter for you will die here and now."

Dart frowned for a second before grinning mischievously at them and in a mocking tone he calls back,"Oh well I guess if you want it that bad, then come and get me assholes!" before diving behind the rock one again. He heard the demora curse and then some orders were barked out followed quickly by the unmistakable thwap of a bow. As arrows fell from the sky and landed all around them the five quickly discussed a plan. Spreading their wings the four dragons took to the air and growled at the demora and their commander. The shock of the dragons appearance was brief but was all they needed. They dived at them causing them to scatter and after pulling up again they dove pack down only this time bringing their fire breath into the mix as well. They flew through the troops burning them but some managed to score some hits on their wings before being burned alive. Suddenly Flame cries out in pain as a thrown sword pierces the skin near his wing joint causing him to sharply turn and crash into several nearby rocks. He is momentarily paralyzed from the crash and can only watch as a demora charges at him, sword raised to kill. It never gets there however as Dart leaps down and lands on it, plunging a silver dagger into its neck at the same time killing the daedra instantly. Pulling his knife out of its neck he walks over to Flame and kneeling down next to him pulls out a glass bottle and feeds it to him. Strength returns to Flames limbs as Dart stands up and retrieving his dagger, they both return to the fight. In a few minutes the daedra were all dead. Dart turns to the others and asks "So how are all of you doing health wise?"

"Besides that hit that Flame got I think its just some cuts on our wings." Ember replied. Dart looks around at the bodies for a second before going over to one and kneeling down next to it he started cutting its chest open. The four looked at him with disturbed looks on their faces before Cynder finally asks "Uhhhh.... may I as what the hell your doing?"

"The hearts of demora have healing properties", Dart replied "If I combine it with some other ingredients I have with me I can make healing potions for use to use."

"How does that work?"

"It is a skill called alchemy that if you wanted I could teach you guys the basics of once we get out of here. But for now you can just watch me make them." He makes several potions, giving some to the others. "But now we should probably keep moving in case the commotion was heard by others." They all take off half expecting an ambush, but make it to the towers with relatively little trouble. They do encounter some more demora scouts, but they are taken care of swiftly. Reaching the door of the seemingly main tower, they sit down to take a breather. They sit in silence for several minutes before Spyro finally breaks the silence and asks "Hey Dart why did you say that you had no name?"

He is slow to respond but finally replies and getting up he says "Because my mas..... never mind it isn't that important." He then turns and enters the tower. The others look at each other before shrugging and following him in.

**I am thinking of possibly putting another OC in although im still not sure.... R & R and if you want tell me what you think of another potential OC.**


	3. Climbing the Tower

Climbing the Tower

Upon entering the tower it takes the four dragons several seconds to get used to the dim light and when they do adjust they see Dart finishing the last enemy. He simply glances over at them before heading to the door but not before touching a strange black fountain that is spewing blue liquid. Following him they step into a long dark corridor, even darker than the room before. "Where are we?" Flame asks rather loudly before a furred hand quickly shuts him up.

"Quiet!" Dart hisses, "Your going to get us all killed if you keep talking that loudly." Flame manages to apologize with the hand still covering his mouth and the Dart simply disappears again, blending into the shadows with perfect skill. Soon the tunnel begins to go upwards and eventually reaches a strange doorway that Dart opens with a flick of his hand. Ember notices that the door has jagged teeth-like items on the inside of the doorway and is instantly reminded of some monster reaching for her. She whimpers slightly and Flame noticing this puts a wing around her to calm her down. The door opens and they notice a demora in black robes. Dart mutters "Damn spell casters......" under his breath and starts to slowly sneak up on him. However it turns around and sees him before he can kill it and raises its hand as if summoning something. A red mist surrounds the hand as similar red mist takes the place of a scamp in front of it. The four dragons are shocked momentarily but then jump in, quickly killing the scamp. However as the body falls it just fades away and never even hits the ground. Spyro turns to ask him what just happened but sees that Dart is locked in combat with the demora, being more of the sneaking type it is taking him longer that usual and is getting several bad looking wounds. Spyro starts to make his way over to him but before he can get there the demora crack Dart right over the head with his mace. Dart staggers off to the side and falls to the ground. Spyro watches him fall with a horrified look on his face and the several gasps he hears behind him say that Flame, Ember, and Cynder also saw what happened. He turns to face the demora who is simply sitting there laughing. It looks at him for a moment before summoning another scamp, and darts for the tunnel to escape. However as soon as he puts one foot in the doorway it closes, slicing him cleanly in half. They look back at Dart who is slowly getting to his feet, clutching his head in pain. They run to him concerned but he feebly tries to wave them away while stumbling around the room. He collapses again and they hear him say very faintly "Bring me to a blood fountain...." They pick him up and continue up the tunnel looking for this "Blood Fountain". Soon they see a strange circular fountain with red liquid spurting out of it. Assuming that it is the fountain he spoke of, they they lift him up to give him a drink. However as soon as he touches the fountain his body glows blue and he opens his eyes before shutting them again and groaning about the "bright lights". After a minute or so he gets up and says is a quiet voice "Thank you."

"No problem." Cynder repiles, "But how does that fountain heal people?"

"It is somewhat crude but the daedra take the blood of their fallen enemies and use it to heal themselves. This fountain is just one of the many places where they store the extras."

"How are you able to use it?" Flame asks.

"I have no idea but hey, don't complain if it saves your life right?" He then walks off. Spyro gives him a suspicious glance and mutters "There's something that he's not telling us....."

"I know there is but he is the only help we have so we have to trust him.... for now" repies Ember, "Later when we're out of here we can pester him for answers."

"I suppose so....." They then turn to catch up with Dart who is already far far ahead. Dart is busy finishing off the room of demora and thinking to himself all the while _"Grrrr.... I know they don't trust me..... then why am I helping them?"_

"_Because you are a weak minded fool" _a mysterious voice replies

"_Who the hell are you?_" he wonders, _"and why the hell are you inside my head?"_

The voice laughs before answering _"The reason I am in your head is because I AM you."_

"_If your me then who am I?"_

"_Idiot, I am your darker side..... your more demonic side. I am the reason you can use the wells in Oblivion.... I am the reason why the door shut, killing that demora.... hell I'm the reason your even still alive."_

"_I don't care if you are me and that you are the damn reason why I am still alive..... GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!!!" _ He then sees that the four dragons have caught up to him and are now looking at him strangely. Realizing he must have spoken aloud, he stands up and looks at them back. Several minutes pass before he finally breaks the silence by saying "You know I get bored easily right? So pretty soon I'm just going to take off without you if you don't start moving"

"Who were you talking to just then?" Spyro asks suspiciously.

"My conscience ..... telling me to watch out for annoying purple dragons who ask to many questions." he replies, sarcasm dripping from his mouth, "Now shut up and hurry up, we still have a long way to go."

**Just a quick question..... do you think these chapters are to short? I'm just wondering if I should go for more length but not as quickly updated.**


	4. Removing the Stone and Truth's Revealed

**Hey people sorry for the long wait but..... well im not gonna go into detail but lets just say life is being a bitch right now and leave it at that. But to counter that this is my longest chapter yet so enjoy XD**

Removing the Stone and Truth's Revealed

The four dragons and Dart continue their climb up the tower in silence, each person deep in their own thoughts. They are so deep in that they fail to notice the vine-like plants on the walls. One slowly creeps up on them and grabbing Flame's back leg, flips him over. He cries out in shock, startling everyone in the group. Dart has already grabbed his weapon and is looking around suspiciously. Then cursing he sprints for the door, as the vines are starting to cover it. He gets there too late to open it however and instead gets a hit to the shin and then to the face, knocking him over. As the vines retract they hear the sound of someone giggling. "What the hell was that?" asks Flame, obviously nervous.

"Harrada roots.... although these ones do seem different." Dart replied, "They usually just hang off the wall and celling and only attack you if you get to close. I am absolutely certain however that I have never heard one talk before."

"So you don't know what these things can do?"

"Nope, I am as naïve as you at the moment. Although I am going to guess that these plants are being controlled by someone or something."

"_Good job.... obviously someone is thinking today."_ A voice growled inside Dart's head.

"_Aw man you again..... why don't you just shut up like you have been for my entire life?"_

"_Because I don't feel like it, and you can't stop me."_

"_I have only had to listen to you for one day and I'm already sick of your bullshit... stay the hell out of my head and if you can't do that at least shut up." _Seeing as the voice did not respond he assumed himself victorious until it whispered to him one last time _"One day you'll realize that you cannot get rid of me...... one day you will see that we are the same person Dart" _ It then grew silent once again. Dart then noticed that while he had been fighting his other self, they had all been caught by the roots and were being held there. He looked over at there four dragons desperately trying to save themselves and rolled his eyes. Taking out his dagger he begins to cut through the roots when a shriek is heard and the roots tighten around his wrist and turn sharply, breaking it and making him drop his dagger. Roots start to peal off of them but still leave enough to hold them in place. The rest entangle themselves into a blob in the middle of them. It starts to twist upwards roughly taking on the shape of a six or seven year old Imperial girl. The thing giggled before speaking to them "Wow your the bad guys Mister Dagon was talking about? You don't look tough, in fact you all look like big crybabies to me."

Dart, obviously in pain from his wrist, spits back "Oh you just wait little girl.... once I get out of these vine we'll see who's the real crybaby." He then bites back a cry as the roots start moving his broken wrist around and allowing bones to pierce the skin.

"Bad kitty, bad kitty. No dinner for you tonight. Or ever." She giggles again as Dart finally caves and gives out a scream of pain. Turning to the four dragons she looks at them closely before finally bringing Ember up to her. "Wow you scales are so pretty... they would look so good next to my collection of scamp skins." Ember is opening her mouth to beg desperately when she hears a growl from behind. Looking behind her she sees Flame looking at the root girl, murder clearly in his eyes. "If you lay even one finger on her I swear I'll......." He is then gagged by the roots holding him and is brought up next to Ember. "No you won't red lizard guy... do you need to be punished too?" the girl asks, "Because kitty over there is lonely and could use a friend to cheer him up." She is to wrapped up in her taunting to notice that fire that is building up in Flames eyes. She does notice however, how hot the room is getting. Looking at Flame she realizes it is him and reaching out tries to stop him. However before she can, the roots around Flame burst into flames and withering up they die, releasing Flame. Wasting no time he charge at her and she cries and disappears into the roots. Flame is in to much of a killing frenzy to notice she is gone and ignites the pile, freeing everyone but at the cost of severe burns. When the roots are gone Flame blinks one, twice, and then falls to the ground. Dart is immediately at his side to check and after a second looks up "He has only fainted from energy loss." They getting up he turns to leave. Before exiting however he sees that they are getting Flame onto their backs so they can carry him. "Just leave him he is only going to slow us down."

"We're not leaving Flame behind!" Ember replies angrily

"Fine but I'm not carrying him so if you get tired then to damn bad! And drink those potions I gave you." He then turns and walks out of the room, the others struggling to catch up. The noticed that he was killing all of the daedra for them although some of their deaths were obviously very brutal. Soon they come to a room with several dead demora and a locked door, but Dart is nowhere to be seen. "What do you think happened to him?" asks Cynder, looking around "It doesn't look like he was captured as there are no signs of a fight."

"Unless he went willingly" Spyro replies, "Or he's working with them."

"Or he's standing right behind you." said a voice making them all just and drop Flame, who falls to the floor with a loud thump. They all turn around to see a very pissed off Dart who immediately goes off on Spyro. "To answer you question purple-puz, no I am not working for them and never will so if you know what is good for you keep your damn mouth shut! Now grab you little buddy over there and hurry up."

"Didn't you just say leave him a few minutes ago?" asks Cynder

"Fine don't bring him. I really don't give a damn anymore and am actually wondering why I'm still helping you." He then turns and once again stalks out of the room. Ember turns to the others and says "You know what? He's starting to really piss me off."

"For once I agree with you" Cynder replies, "But as he is the only one that actually knows what he is doing we need to stay with him..... for now." Then putting Flame back on their backs, they continue upwards. This time they notice that he has killed only a few on the daedra, making their time a lot harder. Flame still hasn't woken up yet and Spyro keeps reminding himself to yell at him for it later _"If we even get out alive." _he wonders grimly. The slash wounds they are getting are slowly climbing and they are starting to run low on potions. As several more demora approach them and Spyro slams both claws on the ground in annoyance. However as soon as him claws hit the ground they create a shockwave that blasts everyone back slamming the demora into the nearby wall and a crack is heard to signify that they are dead. As the others get up they see Spyro swaying from the massive loss in energy and Cynder rushes over to catch him before he hits the ground. He grin faintly and says "Thanks Cyn." before falling unconscious. Ember walks over and says "Well now what? We can't carry them both."

"We can try." grunts Cynder as she is trying to get Spyro onto her back, "God what does he eat every day? A ton of bricks? I really need to talk to him about eating habits....." Finally getting him onto her back, she goes over to help Ember and soon they are heading up the tower again although a lot slower than normal. Reaching the next room they see that it has not been cleared ether and groaning in annoyance, they let the boys slide off before jumping in and catching them off guard. Ember jumps onto the nearest one and bitting its neck twists her head and breaks the demora's neck. Then hearing Cynder's scream, jumps over the group to help her. They are fighting back to back when they notice that Spyro and Flame are being dragged away. Cynder out of desperation charges through the crowd, receiving several wounds and jumps at one of the demora. It swats her aside and she falls to the floor but instead of hitting it, she turns into a dark shadow-like blob, that moves up behind both of them. Cynder then pops out of the shadows and delivers a killing blow to the two demora's necks. She then sways and also faints from energy loss leaving only Ember left. She screams in frustration and starts lashing out blindly at anything that moves into her view. However one scamp gets a lucky shot on her back and she falls to the ground in pain. Looking up she sees them moving in on her, and summoning up the last of her strenght opens her mouth to unleash a devastating blast of fire. However when she opens her mouth pink embers fly out, and homing in on their targets, cause a slow and painful death to the rest of the daedra in the room. Ember manages a weak smile before she also falls unconscious.

Dart meanwhile is far ahead of them and is fuming angrily about the whole situation _"God, stupid dragons, do they not know anything? They have no idea what I have been through, what I have had to do in my life to survive and yet they question me? They full well deserve the fate I'm leaving for them. Although I am very tired of sneaking around....... oh whatever they'll never get this far." _He then takes out a longsword he salvaged off a demora and charges into the next room, killing all before they even acknowledge that he is there. This is repeated in the next several rooms, although he does gain several injuries from the charges. When he steps through the next doorway he smiles as the roof is visible, meaning the stone was not far off. Heading up the ramp and through another door, he is greeted with the sound of thunder. "_Ok NOW I have to be stealthy" _He heads up the ramp and hears two guards talking to each other "Have the four prisoners been brought up?" asks the first guard.

"Yes, they are being put into position as we speak." the second one replies.

"Good, when the are sacrificed their powers shall make the stone three times stronger than it is already. Then the gate will be impossible to close."

"Even better that we have access to both realms at the same time. Lord Dagon will be pleased." Dart frowns and thinks "_Damnit! Now I have no choice but to save them. Why can nothing work out as planned....._" Notching an arrow he shoots the first guard and then quickly shoots the second before he can shout. Looking into the room he sees that the four dragons are surrounding the stone, the same reddish beam holding the gate open is also connecting them to the stone. Getting up to the platform adjacent to the stone he quickly assassinates the lone guard before assessing the situation. Then deciding to simply remove the stone and leave the dragons to whatever fate they get, he walks up and yanks the stone out of the beam. Without the stone to stop it the beam shoots into the sky and the room starts to crumble. When Dart turns to leave however he finds that he cannot move or remover the stone from his hand. The stone starts to heat up as the room is engulfed in flames.

Dart opens his eyes only to shut them again as he cannot see because of the brightness of wherever the heck they were. They adjust quickly and he sees that he is in a realm of pure white, and looking around only confirms that the dragons are lying a few feet from him. When the begin to stir he immediately goes into offensive mode, in case they now find him hostel. However they just look at him dumbly and finally Spyro speaks "Why did you leave us to die?"

"It's none of your business what I do." Dart snarls back "I'm regretting ever helping you. In fact I think I'm going to finish what I started." and drawing his longsword, he starts to walk over to them. But as soon as he gets near them, an invisible barrier throws him back. A strange voice then speaks, "Calm yourself khajiit, I do not wish to hurt you." A fiery dragon then appears in front of them. Dart stares at it dumbly for a second before kneeling in front of it and saying "What is your wish Martin?"

"I simply wish for you not to kill each other and listen to my words." Martin replies, "Now Dart sense you are....."

"Don't say it." Dart growls

"Different we shall say, removing the stone had some side effects on you. If you haven't already noticed, the stone is now gone."

"Then where is it?"

"Look on your right arm." And when he does there is a giant demonic tattoo looking thing on his arm that went all the way down his arm to his hand where an eye looking tattoo is. He looks back at Martin and he continues "That tattoo will allow you to make a gate to where ever the stone opened one."

"So if a place has ever had an Oblivion Gate on it I can go there immediately?" asks Dart.

"Yes, and you must use it to stop the daedra once again and save both realms."

"Didn't you already do that?"

"Yes but for unknown reasons Dagon has risen again, and you being branded with the mark of the daedra are one of the people needed to stop him."

"Who else is needed?"

"Those four over there" Martin said, gesturing over to Spyro, Cynder, Ember, and Flame, "Becaase they were attached to the stone when you removed it they have been given powers unlike any other dragon."

Cynder asks "Uhhhhh.... Martin? Is that it? Well I think we already have these powers you speak of."

"Indeed you do. I am assuming that when you use them you faint instantly right?"

"Yes"

"Well then you have been given and inner power well of some sort that will allow you to pull power form that and not your own direct energy, allowing you to use it multiple times. I am guessing that you were a little drowsy afterwards and might not remember what your power is so I will remind you. Spyro you have been gifted the ability to not only use fire but also ice, electricity, and earth. Cynder you have been stripped of your fire but instead can use poison, shadow, fear, and wind. Flame you can use the heat already in the air to increase you own temperature and make it so that all who touch you will be burned. Ember you can fire several homing embers that will slowly burn the target and eventually cause death. Dart in case you have forgotten already, you can summon a portal to any previous gate site. You may have other powers but I cannot see them at this time. But my time here is spent so farewell, and good luck in your travels." The fire then shoots up into the sky and it is once again just the five of them. Dart turns and with a wave of his hand opens a reddish portal. Turning around he says "Common guys..... looks like we have a world to save."

"We want to know what is so bad about your past." Cynder says

"Ask me later"

"Your stalling, and none of use are going thorough until we have an answer!"

"You'll hate me for it"

"Ok you want to know something? I used to be evil, used to not care about the world. But now, even though my past sucks, I still have friends who look after me. Trust us we will not hate you for your past."

Dart thinks hard for awhile and then finally in a slow voice says "You want to know my past? The reason that I can do all that stuff in Oblivion that most others cannot? The reason why I'm talking to myself an obviously lying? The reason why I have no true name?"

"Yes please tell us."

"It's because I'm half demora" Dart then turns and then walks into the portal.

**Bet ya didn't see that coming....... Had that planned out for awhile, but yeah R&R and tell me what realm you think they should go to first**


	5. New Allies and Another Gate

**Alright is summer over where I live now so hopefully I can start getting chapters out more quickly than I am at the present time. I am also adding a new OC (or I guess I should say two...) to my story, so anyone who has read any of Black Cyrus's stories I am adding Cyrus/Cyro in. They are both owned by Black Cyrus and to any of their die hard fans (or Cyrus himself) if I mess up their personality I apologize and will improve it as much as I can in following chapters. Now that I got all of that out of the way... enjoy the chapter.**

New Allies and Another Gate

The four dragons stepped through the portal to find themselves back in their world and Dart looking around wide eyed. "You guys live here?" he asked.

"Yeah why?" Cynder replied.

"This place is amazing.... no pollution, no wars, no nothing."

"Yeah well after awhile your gonna want something to happen, out of boredom."

"Oh yeah like thats gonna happen in a situation like this." Dart joked, "If we got bored it would screw over the entire world." He looked over at them so see them looking at him oddly and he simply muttered "Never mind...." Then looking around he turns to them again, "Where's that Ignitus person you were talking about earlier? I want to meet him."

"He's probably waiting for us at the temple." Spyro said, "We should tell him that the danger has passed for now. Follow us." He then turns and heads towards the trees nearby. As they cross the forest they can help but notice that Dart is wandering around like a little kid, looking at everything, examining everything, checking plants, completely amazed at the world around him. This earns a little chuckle from the group, causing Dart to glance at them before returning to his exploring. Soon they arrive at the temple and sure enough a large orange-red dragon is waiting for them. Seeing them approach he gets up and heads towards them eagerly. "Hopefully all went well?" he asks.

"Yes Ignitus, we closed the gate and made an ally in the process" says Spyro, motioning to Dart. He looks up from the plant he was examining and seeing Ignitus, stands up and heads towards him. "I presume that you are Ignitus, the one they spoke of?"

"Yes that would be me. What is your name?"

"They call me Dart."

"And how did you meet Spyro, Cynder, Flame, and Ember?"

"I was wandering in Oblivion trying to shut it down when I saw and rescued them from several scamps. Deciding to help them, we traveled to the tower together and climbed it. When we removed the stone at the top we were teleported here. Spyro then suggested that we come to see you, and now here we are." Spyro noticed several important facts he missed and opened his mouth to say them but then changed his mind and closed it again. "Oh and somewhere in there we got contacted by one of our gods that said us five have to save the worlds and that you guys are all screwed if we don't so yeah this is where we stand at the moment." Ignitus stood there for a couple seconds and then randomly swore very loudly, causing the five of them to cringe at the sudden noise. "Why again..... can't they just leave us alone?"

"Well you could always ask them when they get here." Dart said sarcastically, "I'm sure they would be oh so willing to tell you." All five dragons glared at him and he just grinned. "Well I have heard stories of a old war hero who now lives in the mountains to the east of here." Ignitus said, "He may be able to help you on your quest."

"I don't know." Dart replied, "Martin said that only us five could stop the darkness."

"_This is true._" A voice in Dart's head said "_However that doesn't mean you cannot get help._"

"GAH!! WHO THE HELL IS IN MY HEAD NOW!!"

"_No fear Dart, it is only me Martin. I am simply telling you that you can get help but ultimately it will be up to you five._"

"Ok whatever....." Then looking up and seeing them looking at him he simply said "Martin is in my head now."

"What does he say?" asks Ember.

"He says that we should go find this guy and ask for his help. Who should we look for?"

"He has black scales and a white chest and stomach. His eyes are a silver-ish color. His horns are also white. His wings are two different colors, the right is black, and the left is a dull grey with a large scar on it. On his tail is a lightning-shaped blade**.**"

"What is his name?"

"Cyrus. I'm going to tell you however that he generally keeps to himself so you may have to prove yourself to him."

"How?"

"However he wants to."

"Ok we'll keep that in mind. We should probably head out to find him."

"Very well, farewell and good luck to all of you. May the ancestors look after you all." He then watches them turn and head off towards the mountains. The five of them get into a conversation about their pasts although they all notice how Dart refuses all but talking last. Spyro starts, followed by Cynder, followed by Flame, and then Ember. It is finally Darts turn but instead of starting his story he motions for them to be quiet. Sneaking ahead he scouts the roads ahead before returning with a grim look on his face. "Well we have a slight problem" he says with obvious sarcasm on the word slight.

"Whats wrong?" Ember asks.

"There is another Oblivion Gate ahead. There is no way to get around without being seen but that does not mean we have to go in and destroy it. So we now have to decide whether or not we want to go in and close this gate now and then look for Cyrus or the other way around."

"I say we close this gate now." Says Spyro, "If we're supposed to save our worlds we might as well go in now. We don't really need Cyrus's help too badly at the moment so he should come second."

"Works for me. How are we gonna approach the gate?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are we going to sneak up and get stealth kills? Or do we run in with heavy weapons and go on a massive rampage?"

"I would rather sneak but its not up to me."

"That sounds good." The others reply.

Dart grins and says"Ok we can all take one out, go for neck shots everyone." he then pulls out his dagger and starts creeping up on one of the daedra around the gate. Executing a perfect stealth kill he turns and watches the others take out their targets in a less graceful but still efficient manner. Dart then goes around, and gathering the various alchemy ingredients from the daedra, makes a new batch of potions. Then distributing them out he asks "Alright is everyone ready for a sizzling hot slice of hell?"

"Oh yeah totally." Flame jokes back, "Its part of my daily routine."

"Well good because the land in this gate is probably going to be much different than the other gate so we will have to find the tower and our way to the top all over again." Then looking at their unhappy faces continues "But this time you don't have to worry about me trying to kill you. I will actually stick with you this time."

"Woopie" They all reply unenthusiastically.

"Alright fine, don't care. I'll just wait for you guys inside." He then enters the portal.

"Yeah not try to kill us." Ember says "You better not piss him off this time Spyro." Then ignoring the dirty look he gives her she also enters, followed closely by Flame. "How fun." Cynder says "I think he likes her." then she also enters, leaving Spyro alone. He shacks his head before asking the air "Am I the only sane one here?" He then enters as well. A few seconds surrounded by a strange fire that did not burn him and then he was once again stepping into the world of the daedra. He looks around so see Dart scanning the horizon and the others cautiously looking around the immediate area. Heading over to Dart he asks "Where's the tower?" Dart points to the north where several towers can be seen in the distance. "I don't know what tower holds the stone" he says, "but I know that we should head that way." They start down the hill they were on and head off towards the north and the towers. All of them notice after awhile how strangely empty and quiet the plains are. There are no daedra but at the same time no bodies or signs of a fight. Dart is looking around cautiously but the others, mostly Flame, seem unaffected by the quietness. "We are ether walking into a trap or a very skilled assassin has already come through here." Dart says

"Or there just aren't any here and we are getting lucky." Replies Flame angrily, "Ever think of that?"

"Yeah but luck only lasts for so long, so sooner or later something is going happen." He then pauses and goes over to a rock where he pulls out a dead daedra, a puncture wound on its neck. "This blood is still warm." He says, "Our assassin is probably still nearby." Suddenly shouts started coming from over the next ridge and the five quickly climb it to observe. A group of demora are crowded around one of their own, who is dying from a fresh stab wound to the neck. However as their attention is focused on the dying daedra they do not notice the shadow closing in on them until it is too late. A black dragon flies out of the shadows and hits then nearest demora in the temple, causing him to scream. The scream catches the attention of the other demora and turning around, see him before he can return to the shadows. Instead of running as they expected however, he charges into the group, causing several demora to be tossed up by the created wind. He then turns and slashes several at the same time, causing severe wounds. Then to their amazement he stands up on his back legs and punches one right in the face, killing it instantly. This continues on for several minutes and the demora are easily taken care of, but the fighting has caused the other nearby group to come investigate. They come in a giant group and you can clearly see that the dragon is overwhelmed. "I think we should go help him." Says Cynder

"Why?" Replies Dart, "We're perfectly safe here."

"Well it's a dragon and we never leave our own species behind, and that it kinda looks like that Cyrus person Ignitus told us about."

"Whatever fine. Lets go then." They then all run down the hill to where the dragon is standing. He glances at them in alarm but has no time to react as the wave of demora hits at that second, causing a full out war between the six of them and the horde of enemies in front of them. Dart is using every weapon he has, Spyro and Cynder are using a combination of their new breath attacks, Ember is using her new ability, and Flame is using his ability then charging through the crowd doing a very crude comet dash. Dart is slowly backing up as the daedra increase the intensity of their attack. He finds himself fighting back to back with the black dragon. They are doing very good until one manages to barely nick the dragon's left wing, causing him to scream in pain and leave himself wide open. Dart pulls out his longsword and throws it, impaling the demora attempting to kill the dragon through the chest. The dragon glance up in surprise at the weapon and Dart noticing it quickly tells him "Use that, it will help you defend yourself." The dragon obeys and grasping the sword pulls it out of the demora, finishing it off. Dart grins before turning back and still fighting, starts to make his way towards the others. When he makes it over there he turns back to see that the other dragon has picked up a second sword and had become a whirlwind of destruction. The rest go down soon enough and the other dragon heads over to them "I suppose I should thank you." He says, "But what would you five be doing out here?"

"Closing the gate." Dart replies, "We were on our way to find this Cyrus guy and we saw this gate and figured we would close it."

"You were looking for me? Why?"

"Wait your Cyrus?"

"Yeah what did you want?"

"Well we were going to ask for your help in saving our worlds."

"Sounds fun."

"I know right? Do you even know how to close this thing?"

"I planned on wandering around until I did. Do you?"

"Yeah so you might as well join us for now at least, and grab some sheathes for those blades before we go."

"Whats a sheath?"

"A sheath is where you put your sword when your not using it."

"Ok explain more on the way there."

"Wait your not going to test us?" Cynder asks.

"Oh I think saving my ass back there is good enough." Cyrus replies. They head off towards the towers once more, Dart explaining things to Cyrus and even showing him how to wield a blade. The daedra's scouts seemed to have run out for now so the few that were encountered were taken out with little trouble. Soon they came to the door of one of the towers and looking up at it tried to guess if it was the right one. "Well I guess we could always climb them all." Flame says

"Oh I'm sorry, I actually planned on leaving alive I didn't know you had other plans." Dart replies, "Besides I just noticed that they are connected by bridges so if one isn't it we can just cross up there."

"Well whatever I just want to leave so lets hurry it up." He then enters. Dart just looks at the place where he was oddly then says "Sense when was he in charge of me?" He then also enters Followed by the rest of them. They all failed to notice the harrada roots retraction into the various holes and cracks in the tower. Just before the last root enters a giggling is heard and then silence.

**Don't worry Cyro will show up soon.... and anyone who has not read any of Black Cyrus's stories (mainly savior of shadows) should go and read those..... after reviewing XD**


	6. Climbing the Tower and More Suprises

Climbing the Tower and More Surprises

When the six of them enter the tower they are greeted with the sight of a red-orange beam of fire shooting up from a lava pool in the center of the floor. "Well at least were going the right way." Dart whispers, "But we might have to use those other towers to get higher up"

"Oh fun." Flame replies, "More crap to go through." Then realizing that he had talk too loud and alerted the guards added "Oops....."

"Well so much for a surprise attack, time to fight." He then pulls out his dagger and charges at the nearest demora, catching it off guard. A few chosen swipes and it is down without a fight. Then picking up its longsword he heads over to the others who are taking care of the rest of the daedra. It take but a few more seconds to kill the remaining enemies and then Dart is mentioning to the others to come over to the strange blue liquid spewing fountain from before. "This is where demora store Magicka Essence." He says, "See if you can activate it." Spyro nods and puts his claw on it. As soon as he touches it, a blue orb flies out and is absorbed into his body. He looks down startled for a moment before asking "What was that?"

"That orb holds the essence of the power we require to use spells." Dart explains, "But in you guys case you can use it to restore the power to your power well things instantly, instead of waiting for it to come back."

"Wait you never told us you were a spell caster."

Dart looks down sheepishly before replying"Well I'm not really a spell caster, because all races in my world have the ability to cast at least one spell. The reason I didn't tell you is because you would start to depend on it, and I like to save it for extreme emergencies as I have to wait for that power to come back before I can cast another."

"Can you heal yourself?" Ember asks.

"Yes and other people too but like I said, emergencies only."

"And what is your definition of an emergency?" Asks Cyrus

"Well we would have to be out of potions for one, and would also have to be surrounded but even then I don't know. Spells can be very bad in the hands of the inexperienced, and lets just say I have had a few unpleasant situations involving them that I don't really need to repeat and leave it at that. But enough talk, we still have a long way to go. Charge up you four, then we can continue." He then turns and starts toward the door, followed by Cyrus who appears to be thinking hard about something. Soon they all head through into the next room only to be greeted by the next wave of guards who apparently had already been alerted to their presence. Instead of attacking, however, the nearest one steps forwards and says "Surrender to us mortals, and we will make it quick." His only response is the sound of three swords being drawn and the growling of four others. The leader has no time to even respond as he is cut down quickly, along with a few more before the demora have a chance to draw their weapons. There are many of them but Cynder, Ember and Spyro are doing a good job of keeping them away, while Flame, Cyrus, and Dart take care of the ones that get past. They defeat the demora after a few minutes, but at the cost of several cuts. More ingredient gathering and soon they are continuing up the tower. They step back out into the main hall and notice that apart from the hum of the beam in the center, oblivion has once again become strangely quiet. "We're being watched." Dart says slowly.

"Oh stop being paranoid." Flame shoots back

"No he's right." Cyrus cuts in, "There is someone above waiting for us."

"And how do you know that?" Ember asks

"I'm an assassin, I should know when somebody is watching me.

"Oh whatever your all just freaked out, just admit it." Flame says

We are not freaked out, me and Dart's "paranoia" might just save your life some day so you should accept and learn to use it." Then with Cyrus still glaring at Flame, the six cross over to the other side and open the door to find themselves on a bridge to one of the adjacent towers. Looking around they quickly cross to avoid being seen by daedra below. When they enter the next tower Dart immediately curses. When the others look over at him he points at the harrada root retracting into the upper levels of the tower. "Shes here."

"Who's she?" Asks Cyrus

"This little bitch that we fought last time we were in Oblivion. Apparently Flame didn't finish her off."

"Well its not my fault." Flame replies angrily.

"I never said it was your fault, but thank you for giving away our position." Several shouts are heard from below, followed by the groaning of a lift. They glance down to see five or so guards running up to meet them. "This walkway is too small for us to all fight" Cynder says, "We need to go higher."

"But thats where the bitch is." Dart replies.

"We have no choice." Adds in Spyro, "We cannot defend out current position." Dart is still clearly against their idea and looks to Cyrus for help who simply adds "Their right you know. This spot cannot be defended. We have no choice but to ascend." He then heads up followed by the other dragons and a very pissed off Dart. When they get to the top they see it have been completely covered by roots, including the exit. When they turn back they see that the guards have caught up and the hole is now sealed, blocking their only escape route. They guard are quickly taken care off but as soon at the last one hits the ground, a root swings through the air and knocks everyone down. "What the hell was that?" Asks Cyrus.

"That was her, the little bitch I was talking abou-ARGH!!!" Dart is interupted as another root grabs him by the tail and throws him into the wall. A strange voice then says "Bad kitty, bad kitty no using no-no words in front of me."

"No-no words." Cyrus says with a smile, "Your still a little girl. Why don't you go home to your mommy little girl and leave the big important stuff to grownups." He then jumps over a root and duck under two more while the voice continues "No, I don't wanna. You never let me do anything I want but now my friends let me. So that means I don't have to listen to you guys." She then starts sending roots after everyone. Dart, already being wounded, is quickly caught. Flame runs over to free him only to get hit with one so he flies into the wall and remains motionless. Ember screams and runs over to him and they are both caught. Spyro and Cynder are doing a good job of covering each others backs when Spyro simply collapses from energy loss, having used up his power wells. They are then both caught, leaving only Cyrus left. He is dodging the roots with ease but it is obvious that he is getting tired. Eventually he stops dodging and tries to fight them but it only ends with him getting caught as well. He glances around before saying "Well this sucks."

"No kidding, we need to get out of her like now." Replies Cynder.

"Not this time, I got rid of you fire guy so you can't burn me now." The source of the voice then takes the shape of the imperial girl once more, "Now you can all just wait here until you learn to be nice."

An icy and merciless sounding voice is heard from behind Cyrus, "Oh I don't think so." Then another dragon simply walks out from "behind" Cyrus. He looks just like Cyrus, except he's scales are gray and his wings are black. His eyes are the strangest however, as they have yellow irises and a thin black pupil almost like a wolf's. He then picks up one of Cyrus's swords that he dropped and cuts him free. Cyrus immediately picks up the other and they both cut the others loose before the girl has a chance to recover. When she does she throws a tantrum and screams "YOU CHEATED!"

"Oh really." Says the new comber smiling, "I wasn't under the impression that I cared." This only makes her even angrier and she lashes out blindly, trying to hit him. It is easy to dodge and he calmly steps up to her and with one slice cuts off what appears to be her head causing all the roots in the room to shoot back into the walls rapidly clearing both exits. Nobody notices however as they look between Cyrus and the new comber and all ask "What. The. Hell."

"His name is Cyro, he's my "alter ego". He knows no mercy and no remorse so yeah.... he can be very evil at times."

"But where the hell did he come from?" Asks Cynder.

"From inside me. We can separate ourselves whenever we want. Its taken us awhile but eventually we have learned to live with each other."

"Not really." Replies Cyro, "But whatever, lets go kill some more daedra." He then turns and heads out the door. The others, minus Cyrus, give him a weird glance as he leaves and then all turn back to him. "He usually does that." Cyrus explains, "If you think he's annoying, then think of the fact that I have to live with him in my head all the time. We should probably catch up to him before he does something stupid." They then pick up Flame and Spyro and follow him out the door and across the bridge that leads back into the main tower. They enter to see Cyro fighting several guards, and doing very well. This does not stop the others from joining however, and the rest are soon killed and the bodies disposed of. They then climb higher, taking out any guards left. Cyro finally says "Alright this is getting boring, let me know when we're going to have some real fun." He then turns, and giving Cyrus back his sword, walks "behind" Cyrus and disappears. "I'm never going to get used to that." Dart says.

"Well whatever, we need to get help for our two injured." Cynder replies.

"Spyro isn't injured, just out of energy. I know how to solve both problems however so follow me." He leads them into the next room when there is a conveniently placed blood fountain. Flame is quickly revived, and they continue upwards. In the next room they are forced into the adjacent tower, and are pleased to find a fountain of Magicka Essence, where Spyro is revived along with everyone else recharging. When they turn to leave however they see a small group of a strange two legged triceratop looking creature heading towards them. The momentary shock of the group is enough for them to get a few hits in before being attacked back. They are harder to kill then the scamps, but can cast no magic. Dart notices that the four dragons are resorting a lot more to physical attacks than their powers. "_Hmmmm.... getting smarter I see...._"

"_Indeed they are." _Replies "daedric" Dart. Dart simply ignores him and goes back to fighting. The creatures are taken out after a few minutes, and on the way up the tower to the door Ember turns to Dart and asks "What were those things?"

"I believe they are called Clannfear." He replies, "I've never seen them wandering around but it might just be because I don't come here often."

"I wonder why." Jokes Cyrus, "I mean this is such an awesome place." Noticing them looking at him oddly he continues "Just trying out Dart's sense of humor."

"I heard that. Although it is true." The others start to laugh at this point and Dart soon joins. Several seconds later they have no idea what was so funny and head back to the main tower via the bridge. Once back inside the main tower, the path loops around to a glowing circular platform. They apprach it to see that it has a red glowing claw on it, is surrounded bu red mist, and is seemingly floating in midair. "What is that?" Spyro asks.

"I believe this is a teleporter although I have only heard stories." Dart replies, "I'll test it out to see if it's safe." Then before anyone can object he steps onto the platform and disappears with a fwoosh. He then reappears several seconds later and say "Its safe to use, although it is pretty creepy." He then turns around and disappears once more, followed by the others. They find themselves a great deal higher, almost to the top in fact. When they head up the nearby ramp and through the door there, the sound of thunder greets them, signifying that this is the top of the tower. When they enter the main room, they see is is filled of daedra waiting for them. "Alright this looks fun enough." Says Cyro as he appears again and drawing one of Cyrus's swords, grins and the giant group of daedra. Dart and Cyrus do the same and the other four simply mentally prepare themselves. Cyro is not surprisingly the first to charge, followed by the others and the daedra all ready themselves for the inevitable battle. Cyro does a full 360 swing and lops off several heads before actually giving the daedra a chance to fight back. Spyro and Cynder are once again covering each others backs, and have gotten very good at the fire/poison element. Flame is once again using large amounts of energy to fly around the battle while flaming hot and Ember is simply attacking the ones that approach her and firing off her homing embers every once and awhile. Dart, Cyrus, and Cyro are covering each others backs, and ensuring that nothing gets through. None of them, however are getting away unscathed and are also starting to get tired. "We should get up to the next level." Dart says, "Then we might have an advantage over them."

"The higher ground should help us." Cyrus replies, "But how do we tell the others?"

"We should just start over there and hope they notice and do the same on their side." The three of them start moving towards the nearby ramp as fast as they can while still attacking and defending. They are nearly to their ramp when Flame notices them and tells the others who also move up their ramp. With no need to cover their backs they are relatively safe, aside for the occasional archer. But even they are not safe from a fireball from Spyro, or embers from Ember, or the return fire from Dart's trusty Demora Bow. Soon all that is left of the forces is a handful of demora mages who summon everything they can at once and start blasting spells all over the place. Everyone except dart defends the ramps while Dart stands in the middle and takes careful aim with his bow. Upon release he scores a direct head shot on one of the mages and they immediately turn their attention to him. They send everything they have at him and a few hit, a few miss, and a few are avoided. They to everyones amazement he turns back to the and outstretches his hand. A blue orb forms momentarily, then flies at the mages in the form of several bolts of lightning. It hits one of the mages then jumps to the next and so on, until all of them are dead. As the others turn to him he simply says "You want to see magic and you got your demonstration, and some fried demora."

"Wow are all spells that powerful?" Asks Spyro.

"No that was one of my most powerful spells. I'm gonna need at least a day before I can even think about using it again. But now we can get the stone and close the gate for good." They all walk up to the platform, Cyro merging with Cyrus as they do. When they reach it Dart glances around at everyone then walks forward and yanks the stone out of place. The beam it held in place shoots into the sky and the chamber starts to collapse as their vision goes white and they are teleported away. When they wake up they are back in the real world, next to the ruins of the gate. Dart looks around at everyone and asks "Alright where to next?"

**A question mostly for people who will know what im talking bout but if you don't still say yes or no but...... do you think I should make them go to the Shivering Isles eventually? Or would that go to far form the plot for to long? Thx and remember to R&R people**


	7. Exploring the Other World

**Alright so resently descovered that most of my summer is going to be spent away from home so I will not be able to update as fast as I had hoped. If the next chapter take awhile do not worry for I will not be dead....... just busy. Ether way tho chapter 7 is here so please enjoy.**

Exploring the Other World

After all agreeing on their destination Dart opens another portal, much to the surprise of Cyrus. He look over at Dart curiously and seeing his look replies with "I'm special, lets leave it at that." He then walks through, followed by everyone else. When they emerge from the other side, they are greeted with a lush but swampy land and Dart sighing in relief. "It feels good to be home." He says, "But we are still far from any towns."

"Do you know this area?" Asks Ember.

"Yes, this area is known as Blackwood, we are just a little east of The Nibenay Valley."

"Do you know where civilization is?"

"To the South-West we have Leyawiin." Replies Dart, "And to the North-West we have Bravil. There are others but these are the closest two."

"Any big differences?"

"Leyawiin is bigger but a bit more out of the way, while Bravil is smaller but more in the middle."

"Hmmmmm... I like Bravil more." Says Cyrus, "We have to worry about less people and if trouble should arise we can get backup quicker."

"That sounds good. Anyone have an objection?"

"Yes I do." Says Spyro, "How are we going to get into the city? Unless dragons are a natural race of this world we will be noticed very quickly."

"Damn, I forgot about that. Yeah you guys will get noticed very quickly, except maybe for Cyrus if we can find a big enough robe to hide everything."

"It is not needed." Says Cyrus, "I would rather stick together anyway."

"That sounds like a good idea, should we just avoid cities then?"

"Well we will need supplies... I guess we could always try to just all walk in and see what happens."

"The guards already hate me, this would just drive them over the edge. I guess I could try to buy a house or....." He trails off and the others look at him curiously. "I know where we can go." He said, "But it is still a ways off from here."

"Where is it?" Asks Flame.

"To the far North of here, on the foothills of The Valus Mountains, there is a city by the name of Cheydinhal." Dart said, "I have some friends there who should be willing to help us."

"Could you get us there any faster?" Asks Cyrus, "Use that portal power of yours."

"There is a closer portal but I feel like I will have to wait awhile before I can use it again. Crossing over worlds takes up a lot of energy. I would suggest we head towards Bravil for now and warp to Cheydinhal when we can."

"Sounds good to me." Replies Cyrus, "Cyro also somewhat agrees but he never fully will so thats good, and I would assume but your guys silence that you agree as well?"

"Yeah sounds good." The rest reply.

"Alright then, lets head towards Bravil."

"Wait." Says Dart, "Its almost dark so lets find a place to rest for the night."

"And you just happen to know where we could do this?" Asks Spyro.

"As a matter of fact yes, not that far North from here is Marsh Punk Camp. There might be a few bandits but after Oblivion they're going to be a breeze."

"Whatever I guess." Spyro replies, "Lets go." The six of them head North and soon come upon the camp, taking care of the bandits without much of a struggle. They then crash for the night, although Cyrus and Dart have a bit more trouble than the others, as their "other self" contacts both of them. Soon after that however, they both fall asleep. When they wake up Dart is gone, with a note telling them to stay where they are. About a half an hour later he returns to camp, his hunting prize on his shoulder. He grins at their hungry faces and says "Well you can have your share raw if you want, but I'm going to cook my part." Then pulling out his dagger he skins and guts the deer, then separates the meat into six sections. He tosses the five dragons their share then makes a fire, and cooking his to perfection eats as well. When they are all done Dart stands up and says "I think I'm strong enough to warp us to Cheydinhal"

"You sure?" Asks Cyrus, "Do you really think it is already safe to use?"

"I'm positive, now lets go." He then turns and opens a portal behind him. He enters, followed by the rest of them. When the emerge, they find themselves in the middle of a dense forest, a rather large river to the left of them, and Dart looking very confused. "It didn't work did it." Says Cyrus.

"It didn't teleport us where I wanted to but instead took us east to The Nibenay Valley, just North of Bravil."

"Well we can stay near the city until your power regenerates I guess" Says Cynder.

"I suppose we have no choice then, I'll take you guys to Bravil." They turn South and and leave the forest. On the top of a small hill not to far away is a small circular altar that Dart heads towards. The others are confused and follow him but stop when they see him kneel before the basin in the center. After a few seconds a ball of blue light appears and enters Dart causing a small explosion of blue light. Dart then stands up and turning starts towards the city, saying to the others as he does "Sorry about that but I had to pay my respects to Zenithar."

"Who is that?" Asks Spyro.

"Zenithar is the divine of wealth, labor, commerce, and communication. He is but one of nine."

"You have nine gods?" Asks Cynder.

"Yes The Nine watch over us and protect us from harm."

"Sounds interesting." Says Ember.

"It is, but I will tell you about it some other time."

"Why?"

"Because we have reached Bravil." The others look to see a large wall surrounding the city. Dart looks over to see them staring in wonder at the city and waits for them to stop before saying "Alright I know you didn't want to split up but I need you guys to stick near the city, but away from the guards while I look for a place to stay. Can you guys just lay low for awhile?" The others nod in agreement and then Dart heads towards the city, getting some dirty looks from the guards while he did. The others watch him enter through a giant gate before turning their attention back on hiding. "I hope he gets a good place." Says Ember, "I would hate to have to sleep in some dirty and gross place."

"Well we have to stay out of the way of the guards so thats probably what we're going to get." Replies Cyrus, "Just feel better in the fact that I have had to spend time in worse places."

"Like what?" Asks Cynder.

"Well for instance I was actually in that plane that you found me in for a couple days so I had to find some dark corner where I could get some sleep."

"Well wasn't Cyro guarding you?" Asks Flame, "He could have been protecting you while you slept."

"I highly doubt it, he is willing to do a few small favors occasionally but nothing that big."

"Spot on Cyrus." Says Cyro as he appears, "I wouldn't protect you, only give you a nasty jolt to wake you up." He then turns and heads towards the city. "Where do you think your going?" Says Cyrus.

"Do you really think I'm going to sit here all day for that idiot Dart to find a place for us? No I'm going to go explore the city, maybe make a little havok here and there."

"No your not, your going to stay right here until Dart comes back."

"Why should I listen to you?"

"Because we're the same damn person, now get some sense and say here!"

"Ok then, if you need me I'll be in the city." He then turns and flies out of hearing range, then disappears from sight. Cyrus curses then sits down, starring at the ground.

Cynder notices and sits down next to him. "Get over it Cyrus." She says, "He's an asshole and you tried your best anyway."

"It's not that." He replies, "It's the fact that he has no remorse for life and may end up killing someone in there."

"Well then we should go get him." Says Flame.

"No." Replies Cyrus, "Dart told us to stay here, and even if we did go looking for him he has probably hidden himself and would be nigh-impossible to find. Even if we did find him he wouldn't go willingly and we would draw attention to ourselves."

"So what do we do then?" Asks Ember.

"Nothing. We simply wait here for Dart to return and hope that Cyro doesn't do anything stupid."

"Whats that stone thing over there?" Asks Flame.

"It looks like an old building of some sort." Says Spyro, "Maybe the ruins of a building that was part of an earlier civilization."

"I bet Dart can tell us about it." Says Ember.

"Tell you what?" Says a voice, making them all jump. They turn around to see Dart laughing and seeing their faces manages to say "Sorry I couldn't help it. Now what is so interesting?"

"That building over there, what is it?"

"Hey that one of those Ayleid Ruins I've heard about, I believe the locals called it Anutwyll."

"Whats in there?" Asks Cyrus.

"Hell if I know, probably monsters, traps, and treasure. Usual setup for places like that. Could be a very fun place."

"Are there any rules about going in those places?" Asks Cyrus.

"Heck the guards don't really care what you do out of the city so if you wanted we could go raid the place of treasure tomorrow."

"Maybe, did you find a place?"

"Yes but your not going to like it."

"Hit me."

"There is an old building that a bunch of skooma addicts use as their hideout and their usually so drunk that they wouldn't notice if a few more people moved in for awhile."

"Whats skooma?" Asks Flame.

"Skooma is a very, very powerful drink that is actually illegal to have and can kill you if you have too much. So nobody is to have any of it, not even a little. Make sure Cyro gets it too Cyrus."

"Uhhhhh about that....." Cyrus starts, "Cyro left for the city not long after you did so we have no idea what he is up to."

"Well as long as he doesn't lead the guards back to us and doesn't kill anyone I don't really care. But we should probably tell him where we are. Cyrus do you have any way to contact him?"

"Unfortunately no I do not. I'm going to guess that he will find us eventually though so I would not worry too much."

"Well whatever I guess, shall we go?"

"Why did you have to find a crappy place?" Asks Ember, "I want a nice clean house to sleep in."

"Well you could always sleep in the city jail. Its ether here or your sleeping outside the city."

"Fine lets go then."

"Wait." Says Spyro, "How are we getting into the city?"

"Ok you guys fly up and watch me, because I'm gonna be going fast. When I get there I'll stand in front of the entrance and hold the door open. You guys are then going to fly into the door as fast as you can." He then turns and looking at their faces asks "What?"

"Do you have any safe less suicidal ideas?" Asks Cyrus.

"If you have any better ideas then please tell."

"I suppose I don't, so sure lets do this."

"Love the enthusiasm" Dart says sarcastically, "But if you guys really don't want to do this I suppose I could think of another plan."

"I just want a place to sleep so I'm willing to try." Replies Cynder.

"Alright cool, here I go." He then turn and heads towards the city again. The others take off and hover high enough to see into the city, but low enough to stay out of view. They see Dart enter the city and he runs past a couple of houses, then takes a left and climbs the nearby stairs. Dart had however forgotten to mention that the door faced the other side of the city. "Just when things couldn't get much harder" Cyrus mutters, "Ok who's going to be the first one to try this crazy stunt?"

"I will." Says Cynder. She quickly flies around the city and disappears behind the indicated building, the others assuming she succeeded. "I'll go next." Says Spyro and he too follows Cynder's path and disappears. Flame then goes followed by Ember and finally Cyrus. They land in a rather small shack with four bedrolls, several cupboards for storing things, and four other people. There is a female Nord wearing sack cloth clothing, a male Nord with slightly better clothes on, a male Khajiit with no shirt, and a female Khajiit also wearing sack cloth. None of them even notice the six of them and are simply stumbling around, occasionally consuming another bottle of skooma. "Like I said." Dart says from the corner of the room, "They won't care if we're here."

"Are you sure they won't attack us or something?" Ask Ember.

"Are you kidding me? We could probably take everything and they wouldn't even notice. Now get some sleep for tomorrow. Your going to need it if we're going to go dungeon raiding tomorrow." He then falls asleep where he is. The others shrug and position themselves on the floor, careful to remain out of the way of the four drunks. The next day the six of them headed out of the city and back to the ruins. Cyrus is still slightly guilty but also a little worried, as Cyro has still not come back yet. As they reach the entrance of the ruins they notice a strange hole in the ruins with a green-blue light coming out of it. Dart also notices so there is no need to ask. He looks it over momentarily before saying "I believe this is called an Ayleid Well. They are said to have the power to restore your inner power and even increase it for a time. But after using one it take a great while for it to recharge so only one of us will be able to use it."

"Well Flame does seem to like his ability." Says Cyrus, "I would let him use it."

"Sounds good to me. Everyone agree?" The others nod in agreement and Dart motions from Flame to step up and use it. When he puts his claw on it the light shoots into him and he grins from the power boost. He then turns and charges into the ruins. "I think the power went to his head." Says Spyro.

"Just a little." Dart replies sarcastically, "Nothing to serious or anything. We should probably go after him now." They then turn and enter the ruins as well. They go down several flights of stairs to see Flame trying to get through a door. The others look at him for a moment before bursting into laughter.

He glances over at them for a moment they simply says "Shut up." Of course this only makes them laugh harder and it is a few minutes before they calm down. When they do Dart heads over to the door and taking out a lock pick, gives it a go. It takes him a few lock picks but he gets through it eventually. Before they can go through the door however a loud hissing sound draws them to the gate separating them from another, larger, room. They see that the entire floor has pipes that are spewing out a greenish gas. "Holy hell." Dart says, "Its like a giant gas chamber."

"Is that stuff poisonous?" Asks Cynder.

"Most likely but I don't really feel like testing to see if I'm right. Lets just avoid the pipes." They continue down the hall and turning right are faced with a split. Deciding to go right, they turn into a room with several poison pipes and two small humanoid looking creatures with a pair of small dragon looking wings. Dart simply mutters "Imps." Before taking out his bow and hitting both in the head with an arrow. The others turn to look at him and he replies "Imps are a type of creature that attacks with elemental spells but is not overly hard to kill. I suppose I should let you guys get some action so I'll sit out next battle. Oh and watch the poison." They start to make their way across the room when Cyrus points to a strange square jut in the wall with a crystal on it. When they get over there Dart puts all his weight on it and it goes into the wall. Suddenly three sections of the wall next to them start to go down, revealing another room. When they enter they see several chests surrounding a small pillar holding a glowing white stone. Darts eyes go wide when he sees the stone and he grabs it quickly. When he notices the weird looks he explains "This is a Varla Stone. It is a heavily enchanted stone that you can use to recharge magic items. There are few of these things left in the world and those that are are hard to find. This is possibly the best thing we will ever find. You guys can have whats in the chests." Inside they find a few potions, some armor, and a sword. Then they head back to the main room and continue forward. Another imp is waiting for them but it is quickly taken out. The pillar in the center has more chests and they take the loot before continuing on. Turning left they climb some stairs then arrive at another split and a door. "We should look around some more." Says Dart as he turns right and immediately gets hit by a blast of lighting. The sound of him hitting the wall echos throughout the ruins and they are sure that others are on their way up. The imp is taken care of, then another one that comes from the right, and finally four more from straight ahead. Taking the right path they see that it connects back to the starting split and turn around, going the other way this time. This path connects to another large room, strangely empty of traps. Dart is obviously suspicios and is slowly walking, taking in everything. He sees a chest on the far wall and heads towards it. However as soon as he sets foot in the middle of the room walls shoot up around him and then a hissing sound is heard. The others watch in horror as green gas spills over the top ow the walls. The walls remain up for several seconds then come down as everyone steps forward, expecting the worst. However they are surprised to see him step out relatively unharmed. He answers them before they can even ask "No I have no idea how the hell I'm still alive so don't ask."

"_Didn't we go over this already?" _Dart inner voice says, "_Removing that new stone has given you new abilities._"

"_I have a question for you." _Dart replies, _"Why do you know things I don't if we're in the same head?"_

"_That is for me to know and for you to find out. All I am going to say is use you new shield move wisely."_

"_And this is coming from a Daedra, the wisest of all creatures."_

"_Very funny. I didn't say you had to listen to me....." _Dart then looks back at the others and says again"Apparently that other stone gave me some more powers or something like that so yeah. Ether way lets get those chests and continue." They grab the loot and then head back the door leading farther in. Dart opens it and they enter, going deeper into the ruins. They enter a corridor like room, with three doors on each side. Checking the first room they find a switch to another hidden room in the left one. The room contains a gas pipe and a chest, who's contents are looted. In the next set there is a chest to the right and the third pair contains nothing. Opening the door to the next room they find an altar of sorts with a chest on it. It is surrounded by three pillars holding blueish-green stones. There is also a lone imp supposedly "guarding" the treasure but it is quickly taken down and the room looted. Dart also explains that the blue green stones or Welkynd Stones can restore your inner power as well. Then leaving through the way the came, they return to the surface to find night falling. Dart turns to the others and says "You guys can wander around out here longer if you want to but I'm going back to the den to get some rest. I'll see you guys tomorrow ok?" He then heads towards the city. Cyrus then turns to the others and asks "So where to now?"

**Alright this is the last chance..... Shivering Isles or no? Even if you have absolutely no idea what that is please say so.... you can always look it us as well XD**


	8. Isles and Gatekeeper

**Alright I got chapter 8 out before I leave..... I might get another chapter out before I go but if not there will not be another chapter for about 2 weeks..... but ether way.... enjoy**

Entering the Isles and Slaying the Gatekeeper

Dart wakes up to see the others passed out in various locations, loot from more raiding missions scattered around like it had just been dropped. He grins at Spyro who has his tail curled around Cynder's and makes a mental note to tease him about it later. Then looking through the loot he notes several weapons, some armor, various gems, and some other miscellaneous items. When Cyrus yawns loudly he simply glances over before returning to his searching. "You got some pretty nice stuff." Says Dart, "Where did you guys go?"

"Well we found some caves and another ruin so I'm going say about two caves and one ruin. I didn't leave the best stuff lying around however, I kept it on me."

"Good idea, what is it?" Cyrus reaches behind him and brings out a bag, which he tosses to Dart. He opens to find two Varla Stones, twenty-four Welkynd Stones, and a strange statue-like object. He glances back up a Cyrus in disbelief "You found all this?"

"All in the ruins actually, that place had a lot of treasure but was also infested."

"Infested? With what?"

"Your not going to believe it but.... zombies."

"Thats normal, there are a lot of places that contain the undead. Did everyone feel alright afterwards?"

"I think so, why?"

"Zombies usually carry diseases and can pass them to you when they attack. I can check everyone for signs however, and have some potions that can cure anything we find."

"Alright that sounds good." They are then interrupted as someone bursts through the door of the shack, startling Dart and Cyrus and waking the others. Dart has an arrow notched and is about to fire when he sees it is Cyro. He lowers his bow but still keeps a close eye on him as he steps forward. "What are you looking at cat?" Asks Cyro, "You should be glad that I'm back."

"Where did you go?" Asks Dart.

"Wherever I felt like. But if you don't start giving me some respect I'm not going to tell you something I discovered."

Cyrus laughs "How are we going to gain your respect when all you care about is violence and chaos?"

"Exactly." Cyro replies smugly, "I'm not going to tell you, I never was." He then morphs back with Cyrus, leaving the others a bit confused and but still suspicious. Dart turns to them "Well he might have done something to the town." He says, "Sense I can walk around without getting arrested on sight I'm going to check the city. You guys can stay here or head off it doesn't matter to me."

Cyrus looks over at the others who are still half-asleep and says "Don't worry I don't think we will be going anywhere anytime soon." Dart then exits and heading down the stairs, starts wandering the streets. He hasn't gone to far before an imperial women yells at him "Send your demons away half-breed!! Or we will be forced to kill you!"

"Demons? What demons? I can't summon demons."

"Don't lie to me! We saw that winged monster fly into the city from the bay. We also know about your secret door in the bay as well, and have posted a guard there to kill all the monsters you summon."

"What door?"

"SILENCE!!!!! I am tired of your lying half-breed and am going to end it now!" She then charges at him with a steel sword. He simply dodges her and grabbing he sword, hits her on the head with the flat part of the blade. She simply falls to the ground unconscious and Dart drops the blade point down into the ground near her. Then turning he heads back to the den. Walking in he speaks before anyone can ask "We're leaving, now. Follow me it doesn't matter if your seen now but don't try to be see all the same. And do not attack anyone in the city, no matter what they try to do." He then leaves and the other follow. Taking flight, the follow him out of the city, then south. Eventually he curves east and they realize he is following the shore. A few minutes later they arrive at a camp and Dart mentions for the others to come down. He then turns to them and says "I'm sorry for having to get out like that but the citizens started attacking and I knew that sooner or later I would unintentionally kill one."

"Are all cities going to be like that?" Asks Spyro.

"Probably yes. We should be safer in Cheydinhal though."

"Is that where we are heading now?" Asks Cynder.

"Yes but first I want to investigate this "door in the bay" I was told about."

"How do you plan to do this?" Asks Cyrus, "The bay looks relatively large."

"Actually I was hoping one of you would be willing to scout by air."

"I'll go." Says Cyrus as he jumps up and heads out towards the center. It is only a few minutes before he returns, pointing out an island in the middle of the bay that according to Dart was new to the landscape. "I understand how we're going to get out there." Says Ember, "But what about you?" Dart grins before removing his armor, leaving only a cloth item around his waist. "I swim." He says simply. Before leaving however he focuses on his armor which simply disappears. Then diving into the water he starts towards the island, the others following him. When they reach the island they see a rather strange sight. First of all the plants are unique from what they have seen but the strangest thing is the door itself. It consists of three heads connected together with the middle one having its mouth open. Inside the mouth a blue glowing portal is visible. Dart runs up behind them on the path and stops when he sees the door. "Holy shit." He says, "There IS a door in the bay." They turn around to see him wearing a fur vest with pants and shoes to match "What?" He says, "Its not like I wear armor all the time. But enough about me we should see what happened here." He then walks up to the nearby guard who responds "Can't talk now. That door has been making noises again. No telling what's coming out."

"Ok suit yourself" Dart replies. When he turns to the other person on the island, a khajiit female, she immediately answers "No. Go away. I'm not here." Dart looks at her strangely before heading back to the others. "The guard said nothing and the girl was mad. Looks like were going to have to just go in." Then stand up and start towards the gate when the guard pulls out his sword and yells "Here comes another one!" A dark elf emerges from the gate while screaming "It's not right! Madness! Why? Why? Everything is wrong! It can't be done! Stay away from me!" They take a cautious stap back as he continues "I won't go back. I won't go back! You can't make me go back! I'll kill you all! Your all going to die!" He then pulls out a dagger and attacks the guard but is quickly slain. As the guard wipes the blood off his sword they approach him. He simply looks up and says, "I'd stay back from that door if I were you. Nothing that has gone in has ever come out right."

"Where did it come from?" Asks Cyrus.

"I don't know where it came from, and I don't want to." He replies, "Those who've gone in have come back out... wrong. I'm just here to warm folks to stay away."

"Why, what happened to them?" Asks Flame.

"Look for yourself!" The guard explains angrily, "Their brains are addled. Got no sense! Perfectly normal people went in there. And this is what's come out."

"Well we need to help the people of Bravil so were going to go in." Dart says, "But thanks for the warning."

"Ha!" The guard laughs, "It's your funeral. I'm just here to warn people, not keep them out. Go ahead in. I'll be here to clean up the mess when you come out"

"Ok we'll keep that in mind, lets go guys." Before they can enter however a strange voice emits from the gate. "Unworthy, unworthy, unworthy!" It says, "Useless mortal meat. Walking bag of dung!"

"Mortal." Dart says, "If he's calling us mortals there is a good chance that this is a god or at least someone very powerful." He then stops talking as the voice continues, "A nice effort, though. A shame he's dead. These things happen."

"Sounds rather mad." Cynder notes as the voice keeps talking "Bring me a champion! Rend the flesh of my foes! A mortal champion to wade through the entrails of my enemies!"

"Yeah definitely a little crazy." Spyro adds then looks up as the voice continues but sounds more directed at them.

"Really, do come in. It's lovely in the isles right now. Perfect time for a visit." Then the voice falls silent as the gate seems to glow a bit brighter. Dart simply stares at the gate before muttering "This is the work of the skooma cat."

"The skooma cat?" Cyrus asks.

"It is the khajiit name for Sheogorath, the daedric prince of madness. This portal will lead us to the Shivering Isles, his personal realm of Oblivion."

"Should we even go in then?" Flame asks, "I don't think we could stop a god."

"No we cannot." Dart agrees, "But he did not seem hostel, and he said he wanted a champion. If we could help him with what he want we could potentially gain a very powerful ally in the fight against Dagon."

"I agree." Replies Cyrus, "Everyone else?" The others nod in agreement and turning back they walk though the gate into the realm of Sheogorath. When they emerge however the group is surprised to find themselves in a small room with a small table and two chairs, one being occupied by a male Breton wearing a black suit with a red shirt underneath. He motions for someone to sit down and Dart obeys somewhat cautiously. "We did not expect so many visitors." He says, "But it will work out nonetheless. Now I imagine your here about the door?"

"Yes." Dart replies, "We came seeking answers about it."

"Yes." He simply replies, "You have entered and now you are here. Amazing. Truly." Dart gives the others a glance before asking "Who are you?"

"I am Haskill." He replies, "Chamberlain of the Lord Sheogorath."

"Very well Haskill, what is this place?"

"You approach the Shivering Isles. Through the door behind me lies the realm of Sheogorath. Prince of Madness. Lord of the Never-There."

"Then why did that door appear in Cyrodiil?"

"Because my Lord wills it to be so. It poses no danger to Mundus, no compact has been violated. It is a doorway, an invitation. Perhaps you will accept it for what it is."

"Well what do you want with us?"

"For you? I do not know. My Lord seeks a mortal to act as His Champion. As for his intent... to attempt to fathom it is a foolish endeavor. His will is His own, His reality follows suit. You are here because you chose to enter, you were not summoned."

"What about the people outside?"

"They entered this Realm, and were ill prepared. There minds are now the property of my Lord."

"How can they be cured?"

"Cured? You speak as if they are diseased. They live now in another state of being. Perhaps it is you who needs a cure."

"Well fine then what happens now?"

"You do as you will. You may leave the way you entered. Your life will be none the worse for your time spent here. Or, you may continue onward, through the door behind me. If you can pass the Gates of Madness, perhaps the Lord Sheogorath will find a use for you."

"And if we go through the door?"

"Who is to say? There are always choices to be made. There Realm of Madness is no different in that regard. Your choices are your own. Enter or not, but make your decision. I've other duties to which I must attend. Speak with me again when you have made up your mind. The anticipation is almost to much to bear." After finishing with his sarcastic comment Haskill sits back and simply watches them. Dart gives him another glance before turning to the others. "Alright last chance." He says, "We up for this or not?"

"I'm willing." Cyrus says.

"Me too." Adds Spyro.

"Same." Says Cynder.

"Lets give it a shot." Says Ember.

"I'm ready when you are." Adds Flame with a slight grin.

"Well I suppose that settles that." Dart says, "Hopefully we can start soon." Then he turns back to Haskill who asks "Well? Have you made up your mind? The tension is almost palpable." Dart glances at the others before responding "We'll do it."

"Fine." Haskill says with a small almost invisible smile, "I'm sure my Lord will be most pleased, assuming you ever manage to see him. You'll want to pass through the Gates of Madness. Oh, and mind the Gatekeeper. He dislikes strangers to the realm. Enjoy your stay." He then gets up and walks through the door behind him. As soon as he leaves the room lights up and a rumbling is heard. A hole appears to the left of the door and consumes the whole room. They look up to see a mass of butterflies leaving. "A room made of butterflies." Dart mutters, "Now I've seen everything." Then looking up he notices the strange landscape and foliage and stands up in amazement. Glancing back at the others he sees them also staring at the land. They glance at him as he shrugs and says "Well I guess we have a whole new world to explore. Lets go find this Gatekeeper and show him who is superior." Then he turns and starts down the path, the others following him. The path is lined with broken pillars for quite a while, then dips down under the giant roots of a tree where a pool of water and strange lizard-like creature are. It shrieks at them then charges forward, brandishing a crude club of wood. However just like all other creatures, an arrow through the skull is all that it takes to kill it. They continue on past strange foliage and under some more roots. They pass a rather large tower on their right and soon after discover a small village. The first life they see comes in the form of two people arguing over something. The one in red turns away and seeing them heads over to them while saying "Welcome to my town!"

"Ok then." Dart says then raises an eyebrow as the Redguard turns and follows the other person. Curious the group follows them through the town and up some stairs to a circular platform. There they are greeted with the sight of about seven or so warriors attacking a giant creature with a sword for one hand. The warriors aren't having much luck and as the slaughter continues Cyrus turns to Dart and asks "Do you think thats the Gatekeeper?"

"Giant fleshy atronach with a sword for one hand? Standing if front of a gate? What else would it be? Certainly isn't friendly. We should probably ask around for help, even if we think we are strong enough to kill it." He then turns to the dark elf near him who immediately says "I'm Felas Sarandas. Don't breath on me."

Dart blinks before responding "Ok...... we were just looking for information about the Gatekeeper."

Felas's face lightens up before answering "Pretty scary, isn't he? Jagred's planning on killing him. I don't know how.... the Gatekeeper looks indestructible to me."

"Alright thanks, we'll look for him." Then heading back to the town they search for someone that looks like they would be able to kill it. A Nord wearing fur armor and carrying a bow walk by and when they walk up to him he introduces himself. "I'm Jagred Ice-Veins. Do you ever wonder why things look better without their skin on? For instance, you can only really see the bones when you take them out. You can hear them better that way, too."

"Ummmm... sure." Says Cynder, "Now we heard that you want to kill the Gatekeeper?"

"I want him dead." Jagred replies, "I need him dead! His bones are calling to me. Rumor has it you want him dead too. If your any good with a lock pick, we can help each other out. We can get into the Garden of Flesh and Bones."

"How will that help us?" Asks Flame.

"They say the Gatekeeper's magical. I don't believe in magic. But I do believe in bones. And the best way to kill something is with the bones of its own. I can see the bones of a dead Gatekeeper in the courtyard of the Garden. The doors locked, though. You'll pick that lock, and I'll collect the bones. Then I'll make some arrows, and we'll kill the Gatekeeper. Sound good?"

"Sounds good." Dart answers, "Lead on."

"Here. Take this lock pick. Careful it's the only one I've got. You open the door, I'll kill things. Let's go!" He then takes off, and he others must hurry to keep up with him. He heads out of town, back towards the door to Cyrodiil but turns right off the main path and heads up a hill towards a large building. The follow him up some stairs and to a gate. "Hurry!" He says to them, "Pick that lock open. I can hear them in there." Dart kneels down next to the gate and without breaking a single pick, opens it. As soon as it opens Jagred runs inside and pulls out his bow. The only occupants are a few skeletons, which with the combined skills of Dart and Jagred are taken down with relative ease. Once the cost is clear Jagred put away his bow and walks over to the large skeleton in the center of the courtyard. Reaching down he yanks some bones free then turns back to Dart and the others. "From these Gatekeeper bones I can make some arrows."

"Great." Says Spyro, "When will they be ready?"

"Find me in a few hours. We'll kill the Gatekeeper."

"Alright we'll be ready." As they walk back to the town Dart turns to them. "Alright we have a few hours. Spyro, Cynder, Flame, and Ember you can do whatever you want to get ready. Cyrus I want to show you a few things." As the others head off Cyrus asks "Your going to teach me how to shoot a bow aren't you?"

"That and get you suited up in some armor." Dart replies, "Because you have about the same build as most people here the armor might be a little snug but should fit. Now because of your wings I had to rip some holes in the back and because that is rather hard to do I could only get you this." He then pulls out a full suit of leather armor which he helps Cyrus put on and explains it in the process. Cyrus feels the various parts of armor before removing the helmet "This is too annoying to wear, but the rest feels relatively good."

"Thats good, now time for archery practice for which you get another gift." He then produces a steel bow which he gives to Cyrus along with about thirty or so arrows. "Why do I need the arrows?" Asks Cyrus, "Isn't Jagred making them?"

"We will have the bone arrows for the Gatekeeper." Dart replies, "But for practice now and the future we have these." Dart then explains how to use a bow, and shows Cyrus how to hold it and aim. By the time it was ready to go find Jagred Cyrus is hitting bullseye almost every shot. "Good job." Dart complements, "Thats a natural aim you've got there. But the others should be arriving soon so we better get ready." N sooner does he say this then the others emerge from various part of the town. They all glance at Cyrus momentarily then look back as Jagred walks up to them. "The arrows are ready." He says, "Here are some for you, and I'll keep some." Dart and Cyrus split the arrows as he continues "Lets go kill the Gatekeeper. We might die. But there's worse things."

"Is everyone ready?" Asks Dart, looking around at the others who nod, "Then follow us."

"Lets go!" Jagred agrees and they head out the door, back towards the platform of the Gatekeeper. On the way Dart explains the plan and Cyro emerges from Cyrus, surprisingly getting to comment from Jagred. Then they reach the Gatekeeper Cyrus, Dart, and Jagred open fire. Meanwhile the others are taking the risk of attacking the thing head on. Ember notices quickly that her embers have no effect on the creature and starts resorting to pure melee attacks and the occasional flame blast, Flame is doing his usual tactic which is more of a distraction that a damager, Spyro and Cynder are doing their usual fire/poison combo, and Cyro is simply going all out with his two swords. Dart and Cyrus soon run out of arrows and run forward to join the melee battle. Dart draws his longsword and Cyro tosses Cyrus one of his. The three start viciously attacking the Gatekeeper, dodging most of his attacks when they come. They can all be avoided as Flame gets hit dead on by the Gatekeeper's sword and is thrown backwards. They look back at him to see him struggling to stand. Knowing that the battle needs to end soon Dart takes a bold move and grabs onto the Gatekeepers weapon as it passes, propelling him into the air. As he comes down Jagred hits the Gatekeeper in the eye with an arrow blinding it. Cyro and Cyrus slash the back of the Gate keepers legs bringing it to the ground just in time for Dart to land, driving his sword straight into the monsters head. It shrieks once, then falls silent. As Dart struggles to pull his sword out, Jagred approaches him. "The Gatekeeper is slain. Congratulations. The honor of taking the keys from his corpse is yours."

"Uhhh... thank you." Dart says hesitantly before finally pulling his sword out. He walks over to the stomach of the beast and slices it open, retrieving the keys form inside it. They hear footsteps behind them and turn to see Haskill approaching. "So, you've managed to kill the Gatekeeper. Pity. Well, you'll now be able to enter the Realm proper. You'll notice there are two doors. One leads to the lands of Mania. The other to Dementia. Enter through ether one. The lands are quite distinct, but are both in Sheogorath's domain. You'll want to seek out Lord Sheogorath. I believe He has plans for you. Try not to disappoint Him."

"Ok we''ll do that." Says Dart as Haskill simply disappears. "That guy is weird." Says Ember, "Sheogorath is probably even worse."

"Oh I wouldn't doubt it." Replies Dart as he looks at the two gates, "Well guys, which should we enter?"

**Alright a few questions for ya..... **

**1. Mania or Dementia (doesn't affect too much but just give an answer anyway)**

**2. Ok there is going to be a part soon where there will be three choices to make one after another. At each of these choices you can choose death or live in madness (please also give me your three answers for these..... and if you know what this is I'm talking about here then please don't spoil the fun for the other readers) Thanks!**


	9. Sheogorath and Xedilian

**Sigh.... im back from BOTH of my trips and now I have even more things ahead of me to keep me busy. I hope to get another chapter out before school starts but it might not happen.**

Meeting Sheogorath and Restoring Xedilian

"Lets go to Dementia" Cyro says.

"Why should we care what you think?" Replies Cyrus and Dart at the same time

"You don't have to, I just think it sounds like the word demented" He then disappears into Cyrus. Dart sighs and says "I don't really care that much lets just do Dementia." The others nod in agreement and follow him down the right hand tunnel to the gates of Dementia. As they pass through the gates, Dart feels a unknown power enter him that he mentions to the others. "I think I got some sort of blessing or something." He says, "A new spell maybe?"

"Well figure it out later I just though of another problem." Spyro says, "Haskill never told us where we are supposed to go meet Sheogorath."

Dart snorts and replies "Knowing him we probably just need to follow this path." They glance out of the tunnel to see a path wind its way under some massive tree roots and out of sight. "i suppose we should try it." Ember sighs, "Its the best we have." They start down the path and as they head down it they can't help but admire the strange scenery around them. Mushrooms and tree roots tower over them. The cliffs and hills are also dotted with strange plants, which Dart takes samples from. They suddenly hear a strange growling noise followed by a small hunched creature with a overly large mouth jumping onto Spyro. The thing latches onto him as Spyro lets out a yelp of pain. Cynder quickly turns and bits the thing on the neck and twisting her head, breaks its neck. It falls off and twitches ounce before dying. Spyro, obviously shaken, asks, "What the hell was that thing?"

"If I knew." Replies Dart, "I would tell you. What was it doing to you?"

"It felt like it was sucking my energy out."

"What kind of energy?"

"Physical energy, like my strength."

"Ok we should look out for those things I guess. Lets keep moving." They turn and continue down the path. It continues for quite awhile, taking them across several islands in the middle of the bigger island. They also discover several camps and caves along the way and discover new enemies. They consist of a dog that looked like it was skinned, a large bug type creature, and more of the lizard looking creatures from the gate. They didn't attack restlessly but enough to keep the group moving at a moderate pace. After a few hours of walking they finally see a city in the distance. The knowledge that they are almost there boost their moral up and they all break out into a run. Approaching the city gates they slow down when they see two guards posted. They don't look human however as their skin is dark purple. They're black armor barely covers them but they also look like fearsome fighters nonetheless. They simply stand there as the six of them enter the city. It catches them by surprise as nearly the entire town is made of stone although an occasional pool of a strange yellow liquid does dot the streets. Avoiding the liquid they head up some stairs, passing many building on ether side. Reaching the top they see a door embedded in the mouth of a hideous looking face. Ignoring it, the group turns right and heads up another flight of stairs to a door at the top of the wall. When they enter they find themselves looking at a large castle flanked by two smaller ones. The two small courtyards on ether side of a stone path each have a large, oddly shaped crystal in them, and the steps leading up to the castle has torches on ether side. However oddly enough the flames on the left are a normal red but the flames on the right are a light blue. They reach the top to find two doors, the one on the right being guarded by the type of guard they saw earlier, and the right being guarded by a gold skinned women with not as revealing but still little of a matching gold armor. The group glances at the guards before taking the left door. Inside is a single room, with two doors leading to the other castles. Two paths on ether side lead down to a carpeted area shaped like a hallway. The carpet was split into two colors red on the left and green on the right, with the same torch setup as outside. At the other end of the hall like area there is a large tree with a fountain in front of it, surrounding the area with water. In front of the tree stands Haskill and to his left there is a throne occupied by a strange individual. He looks like an imperial but had the eyes of a cat. His hair is a light gray and he has a small beard of the same color mixture. He wore a suit of purple and gold and was clapping, whether at them or not is not know. A staff of wood lay in his lap. Dart glups nervously then approaches him and says "Ummmmmm.... hi."

The man on the throne looks up and exclaims "A new arrival! A shame about my Gatekeeper. I'm so happy, I could just tear out your intestines and strangle you with them. I suppose an introduction is in order. I'm Sheogorath, Prince of Madness. And other things. I'm not talking about them. You've probably figured that out by now. Lets hope so. Or we're in real trouble... and out come the intestines. And I skip rope with them! But perhaps now is not the time. You've made it this far. Farther than anyone else. Well done! Take this trinket of mine. Perhaps it will serve you well. Or look lovely on your corpse." He hands Dart a necklace who stores it for later. Then he turns back to ask a question only to find he can't answer. It takes him a moment to find his voice before asking "Uh... well.... What do you want?"

"I've been waiting for you, or someone like you, or someone other than you, for some time." Sheogorath replies, "I need a champion, and you've got the job. Time to save the Realm! Rescue the damsel! Slay the beast! Or die trying. Your help is required. A change is coming. Everything changes. Even Daedric Princes. Especially Daedric Princes"

"Changes?" Asks Cynder, "What changes?"

"Daedra are the embodiment of change." Sheogorath explains, "Change and permanency. I'm no different, except in the ways that I am. The Greymarch is coming. And your going to stop it."

"The Greymarch?" Asks Ember, "Whats that?"

"The details aren't important." Sheogorath replies, "At least not right now. Eternity is on a rather tight deadline. We'll get back to that later."

"Ok then." Says Cyrus, "So what do we do now?"

"Now? You run an errand for me. An important one. Of course, anything I tell you to do is important. My realm, my rules. Your going to Xedilian, one of my favorite spots in the Isles. It's a little place I use to take care of unwanted visitors. And some are more unwanted than others."

"Why Xedilian?" Asks Dart.

"The Gatekeeper takes care of most of the unwanted, but he's dead. We'll have to remedy that soon, as well.... Anyway... there are those who have other ways into my Realm, and they're on the move. We don't want them here, Trust me. So, your going to get Xedilian up and running. Here's a little book to tell you how, and the Attenuateor of Judgment. You'll need that, too. Of course, you can always get more details from Haskill. He's a detail oriented type of person. A big help. And a snappy dresser. Now get going. Before I change my mind. Or my mind changes me. "

"Ok we will set out as soon as we can" Dart says.

"You can go now. Run along. Scoot!" Is Sheogorath's only answer. Dart looks at him momentarily before turning to Haskill who immediately start talking "The Madgod has give you a task. Surely, someone of your copious talent should be able to handle it."

"Hopefully." Dart agrees, "Alright tell me about Xedilian."

"Yes, quite an amazing place really. Wonderful for relieving ones tension as you watch those troublesome adventurers suffer...... no offense."

Dart grits his teeth and he mutters "None taken."

"I'd say you next move is to head to Xedilian and get it reactivated."

"Well how do we reactivate it?" Asks Flame.

"Yes? Ah.... silly me. The book has no pictures." Haskill replies, "Can't really expect you to read that can I?" Flame growls softly as he continues "To reactivate Xedilian for my Lord's pleasure, you'll need to find three Focus Crystals and return them to their resting place. Each crystal has a matching receptacle called a Judgment Nexus. Even you can't miss them. Without the crystals in place, the Resonator of Judgment, Xedilian's power source, cannot be restored."

"Ok the thanks for the help." Says Dart who simply gets the reply "My work is never done." The group then turns and exits the castle then follows their route back out of the city. However when they get out Dart motions for them to stop and says "Hold on, I want to try something." He then closes his eyes and waves his hand, trying to open a portal. For a second nothing happens then suddenly they find themselves at a lair they had passed on the way to meet Sheogorath. "Ah well it only took ut to Blackroot Lair but we covered a fair amount of distance."

"How do you know this place is called Blackroot Lair?" Asks Cynder.

"I...I... I don't really know, the name just came to me. Maybe I can ask Sheogorath about it when we get back. But for now we head south to Xedilian." He then turn and heads down the path. The other shrug before following him. They path leads into a small canyon of sorts before opening up again into the tangled roots and giant mushrooms that made up most of Dementia. A patch of the cloudy sky clears up and they see that it is a dark blue with jagged light blue streaks in it. Their journey is also strangely quiet, as nothing has attacked them yet. Soon there is a turn onto a stone bridge with a door at the other end. However one of the lizard creatures is also on the bridge and it notches an arrow when it sees them. Before it can release it though, an arrow pierces its neck and they all look over at Cyrus in surprise. "Nice shot." Dart says as he steps up to the corpse. The others follow and Spyro asks "Can you tell what that is?"

"Don't ask me how I know," He replies, "But this thing is called a Grummite. I have a feeling there are more inside so keep your weapons drawn and eyes peeled." They drawing his weapon, Dart enters the door. The others follow his example. The enter to find themselves in a small hallway with a door at the end, flanked by two broken statues and several torches. Heading through the door they follow a small hall up some stairs before catching up to Dart, who is in the middle of a fight with several Grummites. The others join and finish them off with relative ease. Dart turns to them "Sorry." He says, "I was just gonna scout ahead."

"It's fine." Replies Cynder, "Has anyone else noticed that this place is like coming down?" The other then notice the cracked pillars around the room and the few piles of rubble that dotted it as well. "Yeah." Says Ember, "Lets hope the place doesn't collapse on us."

"Aw come on guys it's not that different from that ruin we explored back home, lets just keep going and get this place activated."

"Hey do you think we should leave everything here?" Asks Cyrus from the corner of the room, "Or can we loot the place?"

"I think it would be fine to loot but we're not gonna stray off the main path for stuff." They then loot the lone chest in the room and continue deeper in. The path doesn't stray off at all but instead takes the to a room with several more Grummites, one wielding a crystal staff. After the short battle, Dart walks over to the corpse of the lead Grummite and picks up the staff. "I think this is a focus crystal." He says, "And I think that thing over there is its nexus." He points to a strange pedestal looking object with four spikes in the center. When the crystal is placed in the spikes it starts to hover over them and starts making an odd sound. Nobody notices however as the door has opened and they have left. They head down some stairs to a door looking slab of metal. Dart puts his hand on it experimentally and it slides open quite smoothly. Beyond the door is a large room with a fire in the center, with two statues next to it. Two Grummites are standing near the fire, but weather they are guarding something or simply warming up by the fire is unknown. Dart and Cyrus each snipe one, alerting another standing out of view. It charges at them only to get rammed by Flame then burned to a crisp. He stands up and grins only to see the others roll their eyes and continue through the room. He glares at them momentarily before catching up with them. They head through several more corridors and down some stairs before reaching a room with a gate on ether side and a button shaped like a grinning face. Ember starts to reach for it but is stopped by Cyrus "It's a trap." He says.

"Well obviously it's a trap." Replies Dart, "But we have no other option so we might as well give it a go." He motions to Ember who presses it. No sooner does she then the square of floor they're on retract quickly, dropping them down about fifteen feet. It is clear however that it was not a trap meant to kill as one of the walls in the hole is broken, leading farther in. Upon entering the next room the find three more Grummites, one of them holding another staff. The three are defeated quickly and the crystal returned to the nexus, opening another door. The team takes a few minutes to heal and take a breather, then they head through the door and nearly running into another Grummite. It is quickly killed however and the group continues onwards. They head down some stairs and through a door to find another room, complete with two Grummites. They beasts are killed and then the deside where to go next. The dragons minus Cyrus wanted to go up the large staircase in the middle of the room and the two assassins a side passage they had found. The four dragons simply turned and headed up the stairs, the other two watching. "I don't think they like it underground." Cyrus notes.

"Eh they just need to get used to it." Dart replies, "I'm sure they will be able to stand it by the end."

"Well obviously by the end but what about now?"

"When they realize they have gone the wrong way they will turn and follow us."

"What makes you so sure were heading the right way?"

"We've been going down this whole time so why go up now? Obviously this is something to trick us." He then turns and heads down the passage, Cyrus quietly following. Behind a large door there is yet another room with stairs leading down to a hallway with two Grummites. Continuing down the hallway finds them in a familiar looking room, with four Grummites and the last crystal and nexus. It is slightly harder to kill them with only two people, but they manage to escape relatively unscathed. Replacing the final crystal opens a door to a corridor like stairway, with two Grummites on it. The stairs end but the corridor remains, winding through broken columns. It takes them to a large room with three Grummites guarding it. At the other end of the room is a crystal much like the ones seen outside Sheogorath's palace. The two approach it but before they can do anything they head a yell behind them. Turning around they see the other four running towards them. They catch up and Dart stares at Flame who simply says "Ok fine you were right."

"Ah you got to love hearing someone admit they're wrong." Dart replies, "But enough talk, how do we activate this thing?"

"Try hitting it with that thing he gave you." Suggests Spyro. Dart shrugs and hits the crystal with the Attenuateor causing it to ring with the sound of metal hitting metal. This causes a door on their right to open which they all head into. Inside is a square platform with a glowing face on it. When they step on it it teleports them away as the crystal begins to make strange sounds. When the appear they find themselves in a small room with a high elf in a red robe. He walks over and exclaims "Finally. Lord Sheogorath has sent someone to assist me! But where are my manors? Ahem.... must get into my professional tone...ahem... Welcome to Xedilian. I'm the dungeon caretaker, Kiliban Nyrandil."

"Um nice to meet you Kiliban." Dart says, "What can you tell me about this place?"

"A wonder of engineering, is it not? Xedilian is the ultimate test of mettle for the foolhardy adventurer that dares trespass into the Shivering Isles. What they don't know is that they're being drawn to their doom, courtesy of the Resonator of Judgment."

"Ok enough." Dart exclaims, "How do we get out of here?"

"Yes. Yes. I tend to ramble, you'll have to forgive me. If you have the Attenuateor, then Sheogorath must have sent you. Xedilian would normally have sent you back to the entrance when you stepped on the pad in the Resonator Chamber. Sense you up here, I can only surmise that adventurers are already entering the dungeon as we speak."

"Well they what do we do?" Asks Cyrus.

"The only thing we can do is let the adventurers complete a cycle through here. I'll be glad to help. I assume Sheogorath gave you the Manual of Xedilian. You can consult it for more information, or I can provide instructions."

"Alright we'll keep that in mind." Cynder says. The group then heads out to a balcony with two inactive buttons on ether side. As they stood there a group of three people came into view and they could hear their conversations. "... Now keep your weapons ready and watch your backs." One of them said, "Do what I say and we might just get outta' here alive." Three distinct shapes came out of the shadow and towards a small tree looking creature. The two switches burst to life and shrugging they push the left one. Nothing happens as the fighters continue talking "What in Oblivion is that thing? Hahahahahahaha!"

"This is one of the "horrid guardians" of witch the stories spoke?" Replies the mage.

"What a joke!" Continues the fighter, "Lets be rid of this thing and continue on our way." The mage tenses up and asks "Wait just a moment..... whats that sound?" They all draw weapons as the fighter yells "Prepare yourself for battle!" Suddenly twenty or more creatures burst out of nowhere and attack the adventurers. The battle lasts several minutes, ending with the rouge failing to block and getting hit in the face and thrown into a wall. He hits with a sickening crunch and falls to the ground dead. After the battle the fighter kicks one of the corpses angrily "Damn it! Lewin deserved better that this and I'm responsible. Someone will pay dearly. I assure you."

"There's nothing to be done here." The mage replies sadly, "We must press on." They then run off. They group turns back as the door to their left opens, leading to another pad. As they pass Kiliban he says "Unleashed the swarm did we? Nothing like a little blood lust to start the encounter off right." They ignore him and step on a pad to enter a room like the other. Stepping up to the balcony they await their victims. Soon the two emerge with a shout of "Look! Haha! I told you! Treasure! Lets have at it Syndelius." The two walk up some stairs to a large cage of treasure and the buttons once again flair to life. Curious they hit the right button this time and watch. "Blast!" The fighter says, "The cage is locked."

"Grommok," Syndelius warns, "be careful! This looks to good to be true."

"If only Lewin were here." Replies Grommok, "He could get us through this in no time."

"We'll have to fend for ourselves. Do you think you could pry the door open?"

"Forget it! This is obviously a trick! Lets get out of here."

"To be so close, and yet so far. If only we had the key! Wait... do you hear something?" The two turn around as a trap door in the celling opens and a mountain of keys pours out. "Look!" Exclaims Syndelius, "Keys! One of them must open the gate! We're rich!"

"Lets get out of here Syndelius." Grommok says, "This is obviously a trick to waste our time."

He pays no notice and continues searching, "I'll know it when I see it! Yes... it must be here!"

"They're all fake! Just come with me now!"

"... find it...yes... I must find the key...rich beyond all my dreams...hehehe."

"Bah! Suit yourself!" He then leaves Syndelius to his work and the group heads to the final platform Kiliban chuckling to himself while saying "To bad none of those keys fit the lock... hahahaha!" Reaching the last observation booth they watch Grommok enter a room filled with blood, bodies, and despair. "Steady, Grommok..... steady." He says to himself, "You've been through worse before. What more could this place possibly throw at you?" As he nears the center of the room the buttons flash and they decide on left. As they hit it Grommok's voice changes "What? The very dead arise in this accursed place? Very well, you'll not slay me without a fight! Have at you!" The battle lasts barely thirty seconds, the zombies overwhelming him. They group watches then turns back to Kiliban who says "You've made short work of the intruders. Sheogorath should be proud to have such efficient apprentices. Now, if you'll step on the last teleporter pad. I will meet you in the reception chamber so that we may recover your earnings." They enter and he turns to them again, "As is the tradition, you are to be awarded a focus crystal as a token of your fine work. I'll have sent to the palace and placed in the main hall, if you wish to take a look at it."

"Alright thank you." Replies Dart, "Now you spoke of earnings?"

"Oh yes..... of course. It seems a most unusual weapon was recovered from the Orc warrior Grommok. Never seen anything like it but perhaps his journal can give you some useful information. Beyond that, take whatever else you need from the recovery chest... you've earned it! Your free to go at any time of course, just up that hallway. Good luck to you!" He then hands Dart a strange looking sword and a journal and then walks away. Storing it for later they take everything in the chest and head out the door. However before they can get two feet a crystal grows out of the ground before them and two humanoid looking things in crystal looking armor charge up the nearby stairs. Drawing their swords the two charge at the group. They were exceptionally good fighters and managed to do some good damage but are eventually brought down. Sheathing their swords they see Kiliban walk up to them "That was quite a battle. I hope you are all uninjured."

"Never mind us." Says Spyro, "What were those beings?"

"You've not heard the legends? How could that be? Those "beings" as you call them aren't beings at all. They are the soulless abominations known as the Knights of Order. Their attraction to the resonator isn't surprising, it was built from one of the obelisks that dot the Isles they seem to have an affinity for. You must proceed to Sheogorath and tell him the Knights have returned! Quickly now.... go!" They turn and run down the short hallway to a door leading to the outside world. Once out Dart says "Well that was fun."

**One question for the next chapter.... there is a choice of two things they can do now although they will have to do both. Should they do the Dementia quest first or the Mania quest first? Thank!**


End file.
